Chapter 5

The storm that raged the day before had passed overnight, leaving a thick blanket of snow that twinkled in the early morning sun. And throughout Arendelle village, people emerged from their homes to clear their doors and paths of the walls of snow that had piled up. That also meant that Elsa was busy organizing the cleanup effort around the kingdom and Kristoff, being the Royal Commodities Director, had his hands full seeing that the local distribution of goods was caught up. Everybody was busy doing something this morning.

Everyone that is, except Anna. Her royal duties list was empty, giving her a free choice of how she spent her day. She could have stayed with Elsa, maybe learn a few new things about ruling a kingdom. But anytime she did that her sister treated her like a student. And she didn't feel like going to school today. And Kristoff was usually so busy at times like this that he didn't seem to notice she was there. But he was very good at his job, and Anna did admire his dedication. Normally at times like this she would disappear into the vastness of the library in search of some fantasy world to explore. But today she had a new distraction available to her.

Anna strolled into the engineers shop, responding to the workers greetings as she passed. But as she approached the area where Victor's flyer was located, she was surprised to find Victor bent over, his upper body clearly inside the machine. She stood staring for a moment, before tapping his backside to get his attention. This resulted in a banging noise, followed by some foul language as Victor emerged from his machine, rubbing his head.

"Oh! Anna!" he exclaimed. "I didn't know it was you. Sorry 'bout the sailor language just now."

Anna smiled. "It's ok, Vic. I probably should have knocked on the flyer instead of your butt."

"So you didn't enjoy it, then?" Victor replied, raising one eyebrow and smirking.

Anna's face went bright red as she struggled to respond. But Victor saved her the embarrassment.

"So what brings you down here today?" he asked pleasantly. "Nothing princessly to do?"

Anna composed herself and replied." No. Elsa and Kristoff have work to do, but I'm on my own. How come you weren't at breakfast this morning?"

"Wanted to get an early start on the Dragon." he replied. "She took a bigger hit than I thought. I can fix it, but it'll take more time than I expected."

Anna looked at the flyer. To her it seemed like a pile of broken wood and canvas that couldn't serve any purpose, let alone fly. But then, she wasn't the one who built it.

"Is it that bad?" she asked.

"Well," he began, "the frame and wings need restructuring, and the canvas skin needs to be patched. But those are rather easy, maybe 3 days total. I'll have to carve a new airscrew, and that'll take a few days in itself. It's the engine that worries me."

"I'm guessing it didn't like being bounced off the ice?"

Victor smirked. "You got that right, Princess! Take a look here."

Victor guided Anna to a table that was covered with odd looking parts.

"These are the parts that make up the engine." He continued. "Luckily your engineers had the same tools I used to assemble it back home. But they don't have the metal casting equipment I used to mold these parts. And this one here is what worries me."

He picked up the part and handed it to Anna. Anna studied it closely. It was some kind of shaft with 4 arms branching out down its length, and it was quite heavy. Most likely made of iron. But as she looked it over, one detail jumped out at her.

"This end looks like something was broken off." She commented.

Victor perked up. "Good eye, Anna" he replied. "Took your engineers an hour to spot that."

He picked another piece off the table and held it to the broken end of the shaft.

"This is supposed to be attached here. It's where the airscrew attaches to the engine. But if I can't find some way to make these two pieces one solid shaft again, I'll have to cast a new one. Lookin at a week to make a sand mold if I can find the right sand mix, probably 3 days to melt enough iron, another week for the poured metal to cool, then about 4 days of finish polishing before I can put the engine back together."

"Couldn't you just cart this home on a sleigh?" Anna asked quizzically.

Victor crossed his arms and smirked. "What. Tired of my company already?"

Anna stammered, "Um... no. I mean…if you really need to…"

"I'm just teasing you!" Victor laughed. "And if it was summertime that would work. But it's a 3 day cart ride to Zalaria from here. And in this cold, that trip would be even more dangerous than flying."

Anna put her hand to her chin, clearly thinking. "Just how hot does the metal need to be to melt the parts back together?"

"Very." He replied. "Nearly white hot."

Anna put the shaft pieces down and handed Victor a pair of iron pliers. "Here. Hold the pieces together where they should be.

Victor looked confused, but did as he was told. Anna wrapped her hands around the joint and closed her eyes. As Victor watched, light appeared under her hands and the metal slowly changed color from its normal silver to orange to yellow to near white. "Now don't let them move." She stated before taking her hands off the part. Victor could feel the intense heat on his face as he looked at what was now a still glowing but perfectly joined repair.

Stunned, Victor commented, "How did you DO that?!"

"One of the benefits of my powers." Anna smiled. "Does it look like it'll do the job?"

"Are you kidding?' Victor cheered, "That looks almost newly cast. A little polishing and it'll be good as new. I could never have made a repair that good."

Anna smiled proudly as Victor set the shaft aside to cool. Then Victor commented, "You know more about tech than you're letting on, don't you."

"Only what I've read." She replied, "But there was nothing like what you've made in any of our libraries books."

Victor smiled. "Well if there's one thing I love doing is sharing my knowledge with those who want to know. You interested?"

"Oh yes! Please!" Anna cheered.

For the next few hours Victor explained the inner workings of his engine to Anna, identifying each part and describing what it did to make the engine run. She even helped him start carving a new airscrew, which shocked him. To his own royal family he was considered a misfit, and none of them cared for his inventions. The same could be said of most other royals he had met in the past. Yet here was the Princess of Arendelle, her hands, arms and dress covered in wood shavings and her smiling face lighting up the room as she helped him carve a plank of wood into an essential part of his flyer. Clearly Anna had an open mind, a point he found rather attractive. But he quickly dismissed that thought. She was engaged after all, and even though he was a bit of a rogue, he had a moral standard. You NEVER EVER mess with another man's woman.

A loud whistle blew in the shop. Anna and Victor stopped carving and noticed workers leaving their workspaces.

"What was that sound?" Anna asked one of the passing workers.

"That's the lunchtime signal, your highness." The worker replied.

Anna thanked him, then commented to Victor, "Wow. We've been at this a while. You hungry?"

Victor smiled. "I could eat."

The two helped brush the wood shavings off each other, then headed to the royal dining hall.

Anna and Victor were enjoying lunch together, seeing as they were the only ones there at the moment. As they ate, Victor told Anna of a few of his other ideas, to which Anna was enthralled. So much so in fact, that she almost didn't notice Kristoff coming in.

"Hi honey!" She called out, running to meet him with a big hug that he eagerly accepted. But as they released each other, Kristoff noticed something was amiss.

"Um…What is this, dear?" he asked as he brushed some stray wood shavings off his tunic.

Anna looked at Kristoff and giggled, "Oh! I'm sorry babe. I was helping Vic fix his flyer this morning. I thought I'd brushed all the shavings off. Guess I missed some."

Kristoff smiled. "And I was worried you'd be bored today."

"You're a lucky man Kris." Victor commented kindly. "I've met many royals in my time, but never one willing to get right in there and get their hands dirty."

Kristoff gave a confused expression. "Get right in there? What exactly were you doing, Anna?"

It was about that time that Elsa entered the dining hall, clearly in a good mood, and called out, "Good day everyone!"

They all stood respectfully, as required by royal protocol, then retook their seats once the queen was seated.

"Hi Elsa." Anna said. "How did the cleanup go?"

"Very well." Elsa replied. "The streets are cleared, and the businesses are all open. How about you, Kristoff?"

Kristoff smiled. "Almost all of the distributors are caught up. Just the ice to get sorted out now. Seems there was a small avalanche last night that blocked the road to the ice fields. But the harvesters have it dug out now, and it shouldn't take long to get things organized there."

"Wonderful!" Elsa replied. "I knew I could count on you."

Anna quipped, "Was there ever a doubt?" This brought small snickers around the table.

"How about you, Anna?" Elsa then asked, "Were you able to find something to do today?"

"Oh I had a great morning!" Anna chirped. "Vic and I worked on his flyer."

Elsa replied quizzically, "Really, you actually helped fix a machine?"

"Oh ya!" Victor interjected. "And thanks to her, I won't be pestering you for the next 6 weeks."

Kristoff piped up, "Ok. Now I have to hear this story."

"Well," Victor stated, "I'll make this simple. My landing, along with damaging the frame and wings, broke the crankshaft, a very important part of the engine. Would have taken 3 to 4 weeks to fabricate a new one from scratch. But Hotstuff here used her magic to weld the broken pieces back together. Now the crank is as good as new."

"Then," Anna continued, "Vic taught me all about his engine. All its parts, how it's made and how it works. It's an amazing piece of equipment."

"And after that," Victor added, "Anna helped me start carving a new airscrew. It was amazing! I mean, a princess actually doing manual work? Not something I've ever seen before."

Kristoff smiled, taking Anna's hand, and said, "But then Anna is no ordinary princess." Anna smiled in response.

"Can't argue with that!" Victor quipped. "So, thanks to Anna, I should have the Wooden Dragon back in the air in about a week, which is perfect. Don't want to overstay my welcome, after all."

Elsa turned to Victor and smiled brightly. "You don't need to rush your repairs. Take all the time you need to be sure your flyer will get you home safely. You'll always be welcome in Arendelle."

"Elsa," Victor commented, "I have visited many kingdoms, but you are the first ruler to say that to me. As such, I take it as a great honor. Thank you your majesty."

For a few moments, Elsa and Victor just looked into each other's eyes, seemingly lost in them. Then they both snapped back to the moment and resumed eating. Inside, Elsa hoped no-one had noticed, especially after the speech she had given Anna yesterday. Thankfully Kristoff had not seen the connection forming between them.

But Anna had.